Monday, January 28, 2013

It's just a couple of more days until the release of 2013 Topps Baseball cards. Here is another preview pic of an insert from the set. It is a Sandy Koufax Cy Young Award Winner embedded plaque card. Go here to see other preview pics.

The Dodgers continue on their spending spree to revitalize the farm system. Via Eric Stephen at True Blue LA, they have signed another teenage Dominican- Michael Medina.

The strangest Dodgers news from over the weekend was the report, via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, that Don Mattingly personally reached out to Scott Rolen. Could there actually be legs to the 'Rolen to Dodgers' rumors?

In Dodger foreign player signings, Roberto at VSIMH has a video of recent Dominican signee Carlos Aquino, and Chad Moriyama has a video of 16-year old Dominican Dodger signee Michael Medina.

The Los Angeles Dodgers ownership group
created American Media Productions, LLC (AMP) in December 2012 to launch
a new Los Angeles Dodgers regional sports network. Today, AMP announced
its plans for SportsNet LA, the new regional television home for the
Los Angeles Dodgers beginning with the 2014 Major League Baseball
season. In addition to being the exclusive local home for all of the
Dodger games, SportsNet LA will provide comprehensive behind-the-scenes
Dodger programming, featuring more insights, analysis and commentary
about the team than ever available before.

Time Warner Cable (TWC) has agreed to be SportsNet LA’s charter
distributor, and will carry the new network for its customers throughout
Southern California and Hawaii under a long-term affiliation deal. In
addition, in return for agreeing to make payments over the life of the
deal, TWC will be the exclusive advertising and affiliate sales agent
for the new network and will have certain branding and programing rights
with respect to the network. TWC will also provide certain non-game
production and technical services to AMP.

At long last, a Dodger-centric network to call our own. Details of the exact financial arrangements have yet to be revealed, but previous reports have indicated that it may be as large as $8Billion over a 25 year period. This value kind of diminishes the argument that the current owners paid too much. Obviously, that was not the case. Furthermore, as a fanatic Dodger fan I can't be too angry that cable rates in the region may be going up, as a result. After all, at least for me, rates would be going up for a program I am sure to enjoy. Anyway, Dodgers President Stan Kasten had this to say about the deal, via a Dodgers Press Release:

“The
launch of the new regional sports network is a historic development for
the Dodgers and our passionate fans,” said Stan Kasten, CEO of the Los
Angeles Dodgers. “Our commitment from day one has been to build the
Dodgers into the best team possible, both on and off the field. Our fans
deserve the best - the best players, the best baseball, and the best
experience - whether that’s at the newly renovated Dodger Stadium or on television.”

“Our
mission is to have the most fan-friendly sports programming, and we
welcome ideas and suggestions from our Dodger Community. We look forward
to sharing updates with fans in the coming months. In the meantime, we
remain very excited about the upcoming 2013 season where we will be
showcasing our incredible new roster and the many enhancements to Dodger
Stadium, as well as continuing our commitment to broadcast excellence
with our current partners Fox Sports and KCAL 9.”

The Dodgers FanFest on Saturday was quite a day. The weather was gloomy, but there wasn't a rain storm in sight. It was like the clouds decided to disappear over Dodger Stadium to give us the best weather a wet and stormy weekend could provide. For several hours, we were spared from the rain, and many of the Dodger faithful came out to the stadium in celebration.

It was estimated that 21,000 fans came out regardless of the threat of rain. How's that for sports fanaticism?

As for me, I had initially hoped to get a bunch of Dodgers to sign a Dodgers book for me. Unfortunately, when I got to the parking lot the line for autograph wristbands was a mile long. Literally! It started at the front of the FanFest gates and went all the way back toward the outer gates. Then, it did a 180 and curved all the way back towards the entrance. It would take hours to get a wristband, and after over an hour of waiting, I could have no more. I decided to leave the line and go to the FanFest to enjoy the other events. Below is a look at the queue.

There were some great speakers; including Tommy Lasorda and Vin Scully. I'll have a post up momentarily featuring some videos from the day that I found on eBay. Ned Colletti (pictured in the photo below on the left) also spoke.

A great sideshow to the FanFest was a tent fileld with Baseball history. Super collector, Gary Cypres, brought out some of his stuff from the Sports Museum of Los Angeles. The display had a little bit of everything. There were some vintage Baseball cards and memorabilia, as well as, a historical look at Baseball equipment from the 19th bentury. I took a bunch of pictures here, so check them all out below. Click any pic to embiggen.

Below is a little bit of American folk art. An enterprising craftsman put together a bench made with (what looks like) game used Baseball bats.

On the left below is a late 19th century 'bib' style Baseball jersey. On the right below is a large grouping of 1911 T201 Mecca Double-Folders Baseball cards.

Below are some vintage Baseball sweaters. On the left is a 1920's NY Yankees field sweater, in the center a 1920's St. Louis Cardinals outer jacket, and on the right is a 1910 Chicago Cubs field Sweater.

Displayed were a bunch of different fielders gloves used during the games early years. Below are fingerless gloves, which were the first gloves used in the game before the 1880's.

Below are workmen's gloves that were first used in the 1880's.

Here are some more early style Baseball gloves.

The below item was a real treat to see. It is a birdcage catchers mask- the first mask in Baseball.

Below are a couple of vintage advertising posters.

A whole bunch of vintage tobacco cards were up on display. Below are 1911 T205 Gold Bordered tobacco cards. In the bottom right photo is a Ty Cobb card, at center.

Here is a large grouping of 1909-1911 T206 Baseball cards. Cypres didn't show off his Honus Wagner card, but he just about shared everything else.

These next group of cards were great to see. These are 1887 Old Judge's.

On the top left in the photos below is Bob Carouthers, and on the top right is Hall of Famer Tim Keefe. The bottom left card is of Old Hoss Radbourn (and no, he is not sticking out his middle finger), and on the bottom right is Brooklyn Grays (Dodgers) 1st baseman Bill Phillips.

Also on display were some great old Baseball games. Below are some pinball and board games.

Here are some standup pinball games. Unfortunately, they weren't in operating condition.

These next two items are really cool. On the bottom left is a 1905 Edwards Big League Table Base Ball Game. There is a knob behind home plate, that when turned, moves the runners around the bases on a chain driven mechanism. On the bottom right is another table game.

Here is a huge advertising display along with some more Base Ball themed table games.

Below are some early 19th century Baseball bats. At the top left in the photos below are some flat bats, and on the top right is a mushroom bat. As you can see the handle part of this bat is shaped loke a elongated mushroom. The remaing bats are other 19th century examples.

Google +

Pinterest

Supporters

Blue Heaven In The News

“There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey. There’s nothing like it in sports. I don’t care that I’ve never been anywhere else. I don’t care. There’s nothing like wearing a Dodger jersey.” -- A.J. Ellis